Managing PST files

Research has found that the most common responses in users exceeding their mailbox quota are to delete emails, create personal archives, expand the mailbox or, as a last resort, complain to the IT department. Users and administrators tend to create PST files to store and archive older emails and attachments.

None of these options are the most efficient, or the most cost-effective. Panic-managing emails and implementing temporary measures such as PST files cuts into productivity significantly, taking up time that could be spent on more important matters.

The problem with PST files

In short, PST files have the following drawbacks:

They are difficult to manage and locate

They take up space on local and/or server drives, using disk space inefficiently

They are easily corrupted and time-consuming to repair

They are difficult to monitor and can only be accessed by the owner

The solution

The only viable solution for companies with any kind of mailbox quota is a comprehensive email management system, ensuring that existing PST files are managed and the need to use them in the future is eliminated. Programs such as ArchiveOne give control over the migration, discovery and management of PST files back to the administrator. Overall, these systems aim to make worries over mailbox quotas a thing of the past.